Stoke City made somewhat of a surprise early season decision to part company with long-serving (in terms of the Championship anyway) manager Michael O'Neill, but some would have said it was a long-time coming.

There was speculation that the Northern Irishman was heading out of the exit door at the Bet365 Stadium at the end of last season, but he remained in charge over the summer, but lasted just five league matches before the Coates family made their decision.

Enter Alex Neil, who was persuaded to swap the mighty Sunderland for the Potters in late August, but there hasn't been much of a change in fortunes on the pitch just yet.

Between his appointment and the final match of the first half of the season before the month-long break for the FIFA World Cup, Stoke only picked up 18 points from a possible 45, and that record has left them in 17th position in the table - just two points above the drop zone.

 

 

 

 

With the squad that has been put together in Staffordshire, a better placing would have been expected so far than that, and there will no doubt be additions to the squad in January.

Alan Nixon has reported that Neil wants a goalkeeper, a centre-back and a striker, but there could also be the need for a midfield destroyer that would free up both Josh Laurent and Lewis Baker to push on up the field.

Stoke have been a soft touch in the middle of the park in some matches, and in those times they need someone at the head of the midfield to take the game by the scruff of the neck.

Those players are sometimes hard to find, but Neil could potentially push the boat out and try to re-unite with a player who he knows very well from his days at Preston North End in the form of Ben Pearson.

Pearson was already at Deepdale when Neil was appointed in 2017, but he quickly developed from being a solid midfielder for North End to arguably one of the best defensive midfielders in the second tier.

However, Pearson's contract at North End was up in the summer of 2021, and it became evident that he wanted a move to a club that had a better chance of challenging for promotion to the Premier League.

He found that in the form of AFC Bournemouth, joining them in January 2021 for a fee much cheaper than his actual worth, and he was a regular in the Cherries starting 11 in the back end of the 2020-21 campaign as they missed out on promotion in the Championship play-offs.

Pearson became more of a bit-part figure though in the following season - appearing just 23 times in the Championship despite being fully-fit for the most part, but he was part of a squad that achieved his goal of becoming a top-flight player.

It actually appeared that Pearson may get more of a chance in the top flight as he started the first three games of the season, but he has had to spend a considerable period on the sidelines due to an injury picked up against Liverpool and has then been on the bench under interim boss Gary O'Neil.

The 27-year-old did return against Everton last week in a cameo outing, but he is competing with players such as Jefferson Lerma, Lewis Cook, Philip Billing and many others for a spot in the starting 11.

When the January transfer window arrives, Pearson will have 18 months remaining on his contract at the Vitality Stadium and if he's still not getting much football, then Stoke could have a real chance of securing his signature.

If he isn't getting regular Premier League football, then Pearson may jump at the chance to be managed by Neil once again as he played perhaps the best football of his career under him, and Stoke is closer to his Oldham birthplace, with a return to the North perhaps appealing, and he's certainly a player the Potters fans would appreciate.